Haven’t we been proclaiming since 1848 that the Gospel was preached to Abraham (Galatians 3:8) and that Jerusalem will be the capital city of the Kingdom of God with Israel as its nucleus?
Isn’t our best known publication called Elpis Israel — The hope of Israel — which we’ve read and re-read for 140 years?
Didn’t we establish special freewill offerings in the late 1880s to provide funds to buy land in the Galilee so that victims of pogroms in central Europe could go there and settle as farmers? Haven’t we continued those freewill offerings ever since and in addition haven’t our sisters (and some brethren, too!) been enthusiastically knitting and sewing garments to clothe the continual stream of refugees which in large or small numbers keep arriving in Eretz Israel?
Didn’t we give thousands of leaflets out before World War II telling the public they should Watch Palestine because it was the centre of the storm which would destroy civilisation and herald the establishment of the Kingdom of God?
Haven’t the most thrilling addresses any of us ever heard been about the regathering of Jews from their Dispersion. Once you heard the late R.A. Overton or the late John Williamson on Israel, you never forgot their tremendously infectious enthusiasm. Didn’t we rejoice when Israel became an independent nation on 14th May, 1948. We Saw God At Work, Working Miracles in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973.
Haven’t we devoured information about kibbutzim, moshavim, afforestation, and the National Water Carrier which takes Galilee water wherever it is needed; developing Israeli desert technology exported all over the world; oil drilling to thousands of feet south of Haifa to find oil so Asher can dip his foot in it (Deuteronomy 33:24). How we’ll all say “Of course, we knew it was there all along”!
Don’t we just love those lectures which brethren give about holidays in Israel, illustrated with beautiful photographs of the Old City, David’s Ophel, Temple Mount dominated by The Dome of the Rock, the Western Wall; the Sea of Galilee; the Dead Sea. It is a beautiful country and the Israelis (by God’s miracles) have worked wonders in defending themselves, reclaiming terrifying malaria-infested swamps (every Christadelphian lecturer mentioned those in the 20 s and 30 s), building cities (if you are over 50 years of age you must remember that ancient glass “lantern-slide” showing a little group of settlers standing on desolate sand-dunes (if you stood in the same place now, you’d get run over by hundreds of vehicles in the centre of bustling Tel Aviv!).
It was shown in every illustrated lecture on Palestine in the 20 s and 30 s. You know, we’re all so accustomed to seeing these scenes that we can imagine we’ve actually been there ourselves. Then there are those films we used to see like his land (with Cliff Richard); if you are over 60 you might even remember seeing a film taken in the 20 s by Henry Sulley (wonder where that is now — it would be a real golden oldie; it is possible a video tape will be available soon of a party of brethren and sisters visiting The Land in the 1930 s; then there’s the TV documentaries but they tend to be biased in favour of the Arabs.
Don’t we show concern when little Israel is threatened by Arab Goliath’s although we know Goliath can never ultimately win. Aren’t we disappointed when news reports seem to show Israel isn’t behaving correctly towards her Arab population and neighbours (although we aren’t too well informed about that generally, because its something to do with politics and that’s really nothing to do with us, as we always say).
So whoever says we are Anti-Semitic, mustn’t know very much about the Christadelphians!
Now a Slight Diversion
It may come as surprise that over the last 300 years many people wrote that the dispersed Jews MUST return to the Promised Land before the Second Advent. Just a brief catalogue from 1549 to 1901, taken from two books, both available from the Christadelphian Office, The Bible and The Sword (Barbara Tuchman); and Faith and Fulfilment (Michael Pragai); Thomas Brightman (1615); Joanna & Ebenezer Cartwright (1649); Giles Fletcher (1549-1611); Thomas Draxe (1608); Henry Finch (1621); John Toland (1714); Holger Pauli (1644-1714); Joseph Eyre (1771); Thomas Burnett; Bishop Richard Hurd (1772); Edward Whitaker (1784); Charles Jerram (1795); John Scott (1813); J.N. Darby (Plymouth Brethren founder); Lord Shaftesbury (1841) received a petition from over three hundred Christians to remind the House of Lords of the purpose of God concerning the Jews and their land; Rev. Samuel Bradshaw (1844); in 1844 The British & Foreign Society For Promoting The Restoration of the Jewish Nation to Palestine was formed; (our own John Thomas and his Elpis Israel fits in here in 1848); Colonel George Gawler in 1849 (he accompanied Sir Moses Montefiore to Israel planning investments of great sums on early Jewish settlements); George Elliot (1876) makes a Jew one of her heroes in her novel Daniel Deronda and has him make various statements about the restoration of the Jews; William Hechler (1884); Jean Henry Dunnant (1901) was called ‘The first Christian Zionist’ by Theodore Herzl.
Clearly, all the above people were very unusual in their times as it was never the official line of the apostate ‘Christian’ Church to support the Jews in any way. There can be no doubt that God used these people to keep alive, in people’s minds, the prophetic facts about the Jews. Many of them were very influential figures in the political world. The Cartwright were amongst the early petitioners of the Parliament concerning the return of Jews, first to England, that England and the Netherlands might”be amongst the first and readiest to transport Israel’s sons and daughters to the land promised to their forefathers … for an everlasting inheritance”. Would we do that, today?
The apostate ‘Christian’ Church had, officially, always condemned the Jews for deicide (killing God). Martin Luther was most vituperative in his writings against them. The Evangelical Church in Germany supported Hitler in his ‘Final Solution’ to cleanse the earth of their existence. So those named above were individual students of the Scriptures, unrepresentative of mainline apostate ‘Christianity’. We know from the experience of our own community, that ordinary ‘Church’ members we meet at work are almost entirely passively anti-semitic and we are considered a “voice crying in the wilderness” of unbelief.
But is it possible to say there were antisemitic elements even amongst that impressive list, name above?
It is Indeed! Startling though it may seem, the vast majority of those named above were Anti-Semitic! Why? For the simple reason that they firmly believed it was their God-given mission to convert Jews to established ‘Christianity’; bluntly, to destroy Judaism, just as surely as did the Greeks who banned circumcision; early ‘Christian’ Roman emperors who banned the observance of Sabbath; the Crusaders who killed Jews because they ‘killed Christ’; the Jesuits; the Inquisition; the European mob organisers of Pogroms, from the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th Century; to Adolf Hitler in the 20th Century.
Judaism was seen by the apostate ‘Christian’ Church as a threat to its own existence as its pagan doctrines were clearly contradicted by Torah and Tanach. Judaism had to be eliminated by either the conversion of the Jews or by the total destruction of the Jews. This was war with God; Esau, Pharaoh, Amalek, Canaanites, Philistines, Babylon, Persia, Haman, Greece, Rome, the Crusaders, the apostate ‘Christian’ Church throughout Europe, even in England, Germany, Russia (even still today), the P.L.O. and many more. Psalm 83 and Obadiah’s prophecy are among the Biblical descriptions of those evil people.
But surely WE cannot be included amongst those who persecuted the Jews? WE were often persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church alongside the Jews in the late Middle Ages because, like the Jews, we did not conform to their pagan doctrines. That is historically true, (see Alan Eyre’s The Protestors and Brethren In Christ) though we do not often think of ourselves as being victims for the same reason as the Jews were persecuted. So, why ask whether WE are anti-semitic also?
We need to examine ourselves very carefully in two areas. What is our personal attitude to Jews who live in the same country as ourselves and in Eretz Israel? What is our community policy towards Judaism? For now, let us define ‘Judaism’ as the religion of the Jews based on Torah, although that is far too simple as we shall see.
Have you ever heard anyone say:
“Israel is a Godless place”;
“The Jews still reject Jesus, of course”;
“The Jews are blind, you know”.
These sentiments are anti-semitic.
Aren’t London or New York, Sydney or Cape Town, Toronto or Paris (or any other Gentile city) Godless places? Why pick on Israel? Don’t Gentiles reject Jesus? Why pick on Jews? Do those who say the Hews are blind really think they are more so than the English, French, Germans, Americans, Australians, Russians, Japanese, Canadians, or anyone else? Why pick on the Jews? Isn’t everyone blind until the light of truth enlightens their minds?
There are Godless places in Israel, of course, but there are also places where they love and respect God so highly that if you break Sabbath they will take a leaf out of Nehemiah’s book (13:20). Romans 10:2 still applies and not only to Israel either!
There are Jews who do not recognise Yeshua as Messiah, but there are Messianic Jews who joyfully recognise him just as there were in the 1st Century and also suffer centralisation for their belief. (Please never confuse them with Jews who have converted to apostate ‘Christianity’. Messianic Jews are certainly not blind as ‘Christian’ Jews must be! How blind are those who substitute the Second Person of the pagan Trinity in place of Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God? No Jew ever did that unless he blindly accepted apostate’Christianity’).
So no thinking Christadelphian should ever be guilty of making those kinds of statements quoted above because they imply Anti-Semitic sentiments, if you think about them carefully.
They may be factually true, but they are really anti-Semitic because they isolate one group of people and say ‘they are thus and so’ when others are exactly the same. To say ‘Jews are …’ is as wild and inaccurate as to say ‘Gentiles are … Someone said with as much wit as truth
“Generalisations are always wrong and should always be avoided!”.
There is, however, a more serious and dangerous form of anti-semitism.
Apostate ‘Christianity’ from the 4th Century onwards has been determined to stamp out Judaism. It substituted a pagan Trinity for the One God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel; it substituted ‘God the Son’, the Second Person in the Trinity, for Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, Messiah; it substituted heaven-going-at-death for the Messianic Age, the Kingdom of God on earth; it substituted ‘Christians’ for Jews, the Covenant People of God; it substituted esoteric heresies invented by its own ‘Church Fathers’ for Torah (which God said was
“perfect (for) converting the soul, making wise the simple, enlightening the eyes, rejoicing the heart, (being) clean, pure, righteous altogether, more desirable than fine gold, sweeter than honey, and in the keeping of which there is great reward”
Psalm 19:7-11); it banned, with violence, (at different times) the keeping of Sabbath, the everlasting covenant of circumcision which God made with Abraham, the observation of the Feasts of the Lord which were to be enacted parables teaching about God’s scheme of redemption and salvation; it forced Jews to ‘convert’ or be tortured and then burnt them alive. It required them to eat non-kosher foods; it demanded they attend Mass and worship false gods (as all their oppressors had done). It burnt their sacred Torah Scrolls and demolished their synagogues. It forbade the teaching of Hebrew and Judaism. It invaded their Holy Land and endeavoured to stamp them out even there. There was not hiding place for them, anywhere.
We are rightly horrified.
But (and this is a very difficult question to even think about) do we also think that Judaism was destroyed by the teaching of the Lord Jesus, Peter, Paul etc. in the 1st Century? The apostate ‘Christian’ Church says it WAS so destroyed and they (by the sword in the Middle Ages or by words and warm smiles today) hope to continue that destruction.
Well, of course, we worship the One God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel; we still believe Torah is exactly what God said it was in Psalm 19:7-11 and II Timothy 3:15-17 (don’t we?); we still believe the Land promised to Abraham and his seed should belong to faithful Israel; WE are still waiting patiently for Israel’s Messiah to return, raise the sleeping dead, appoint his coworker, exalt faithful Israel over the nations; we don’t believe that anyone, Jew or Gentile, should be converted at the point of the sword as the ‘Church’ did; and deep down we know that we can never really ‘convert’ anyone — only God can do that! “One may plant, another may water, but the increase is of God”. We can all say Amen to that!
Let us consider the problem. Acts 4:10-13 sets a standard from which there can be no deviation: “… the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth … the stone which was set at nought … is become the Head of the Corner; neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”. This must be done “to the glory of God” (Philippians 2:5-11). that is clear and dogmatic. The apostate ‘Christian’ missionary tells the Jew who accepts ‘conversion’ that henceforth he must ignore his Torah. It has been abolished! He must stop circumcision; keep ‘Christian’ holidays instead of Torah feasts; worship on Sunday in place of Shabbat; eat non-kosher food; and, of course, forget Eretz Israel as the Abrahamic Promises went out with Torah.
But to the Jew that is antisemitism and so it obviously is. it destroys everything which had identified Israel as God’s Witnesses from the time of Abraham and the Torah being given at Sinai and separates them from the Gentiles.
How shall we see this situation? we need to think prayerfully and carefully about this problem because we must be able to give an answer to the Jews as to our position. They only see us as another sect of the ‘Christian’ Church which they fear because it intends to destroy their identity. We must be able to correct the apostate ‘Christian’ Missionaries (if they are wrong) because they may be actually preventing Jews recognising Yeshua as Messiah.
What was the situation in the 1st Century? There is plenty of evidence that Jesus of Nazareth encouraged the study of Torah as the Way of Life. To some who asked how to achieve eternal life, he answered “Keep Torah”. “Have ye not read?”; “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures”; “the Scripture cannot be broken”; are among many such phrases we know well. “One jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled”, certainly does not mean that when all had been fulfilled it will all pass away. No government abolishes good laws simply because one citizen manages to keep them! ‘Fulfilling’ the Law didn’t end it. It meant that the resultant blessing was made available to all those who, failing to keep it through the weakness of the flesh, were sincerely repentant and identified themselves wholly with the one who had kept it, i.e. with his life, death and resurrection.
He ‘filled’ it ‘full’ of obedience where others had filled it full of disobedience, not because the Laws was too hard, but they were too weak under the influences of parents who were too weak, an education system which was too weak and a society which was too weak. Buy Yeshua never said, “Scrap it, its useless!”. “As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on Sabbath”; he went up to the Temple for the Feasts (taking the opportunity to remind the people of the true lessons of those feasts). After his resurrection he “opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures”, what we call the old Testament — he did not say “Forget them!”. His disciples continued to attend synagogues wherever they went until they were prevented by rejection, the destruction of the Temple and the dispersion of the people. Paul was delighted to tell of his roots in Torah and proclaimed it was specifically designed by God to “bring people to Messiah”. Why then ignore it or abolish it? Why destroy that which is “Perfect for converting the soul”? Psalm 19:7.
Remember, Paul was pleased to circumcise Timothy, a Jew, to make him an identifiable member of the Covenant People; Paul willingly underwent purification rites with four Nazareth because thousands of Messianic Jews were worried by Rumours that he was teaching that Jews should forsake Moses and Torah. Later he wrote: “Torah is holy, just and true” and “spiritual”.
The apostate ‘Christian’ Church, in their zeal to ‘convert’ (change) Jews into their kind of ‘Christians’ fail to notice that (a) Torah was not an end in itself; it was a Way of Living to learn about Messiah; (b) when Messiah came, those Jews who accepted him were not taught to reject Torah and change their Way of Living, but to really learn and live by what God had taught them. They received no new commandment. God had said Torah was “perfect” Psalm 19:7; (c) Torah was never given to the gentiles except for them to learn its principles that they also might recognise messiah; they were not required live under it; (d) it was the gentiles who were required to change their way of living (acts 15:20 lists four items they had to observe from Torah).
Jews who recognised Jesus of Nazareth as Massaich lived by their faith within the wholesome regulations set in Torah by God in His Infinite Wisdom to distinguish His Witnesses from the Gentiles. Abolish Torah (if that is what making a Jew into a ‘Christian’ does) and he ceases to be what God intended him to be. That is Anti-Sementism.
The destruction of the Second Temple (70CE) prevented them offering their own sacrifices. but it was not the end of sacrifice for his sacrifice was “once for ever” (Hebrews 10:10-12). The Perfect, All Embracing, Sacrifice Had Already Been Offered and as they identified themselves with Messiah (as they had to identify themselves, previously, with their animal sacrifices, before Messiah came) so they enjoyed the blessings of his (and their) sacrifice. Had not God said, “When you shall make his soul (life) an offering for (your) sin … the pleasure of the lord shall prosper in his hand”. Isaiah 53:10.
The Gentile has to be led to recognise Jesus as Lord and Christ also by studying Torah— there is no other way. Gentiles who claim to have found Christ without Torah study have found a counterfeit Christ; that is why they call him ‘God the Son’ — he is not Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Torah is not an end in itself; its on-going work is to lead all men to Messiah. So for both Jew and Gentile it is equally necessary as an irreplaceable teaching aid.
For the Jew, however, it is more; it is The Way Of Living to distinguish him as a member of God’s everlasting covenant, by circumcision through Abraham’s faith and by faith at Sinai after liberation from Egyptian bondage through the blood of the Passover Lamb; and the separation by going through the Red Sea.
No other nation was so separated by God as His worldwide Witnesses. They witness to the Power of Torah as the Way of Living, The Way of Learning the Purpose of God and The Way of being God’s Witnesses.
Torah was not given to the Gentiles, though they must be willing to be taught by it. They are not required to be circumcised, keep sabbath, eat kosher, wear tefilin, keep shmitah, etc. But they must learn its principles for they all point forward to Messiah. Torah living by Israel was designed to attract the nations as they realised the superior position of Israel was because they were taught of God. The Queen of Sheba came to investigate the fame of Solomon’s Kingdom “because of the name of the Lord”. Israel were the true bearers of The Good News, the Gospel which was preached to Abraham (see Genesis 12:1-3; Deuteronomy 4:5-9; I Kings 8:59-61; Isaiah 43:10 etc.).
Had the apostate ‘Christian’ Church succeeded in its nefarious tactics, all Jews would have become apostate ‘Christians’; Torah and Tanach would have been destroyed or joined books of ancient history, instead of being the Living Word of God; Judaism would have disappeared and God would have had no living witnesses to restore to Eretz Israel by miracles in the Last Days; the final worldwide warning of the imminent appearance of Messiah would have been rendered impossible. “Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord” (Isaiah 43:10) was never cancelled by Almighty God. His chosen people Israel, have been and are, His witnesses, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, in belief and in unbelief.
The apostate ‘Christian’ Church, with all its anti-semitism and persecution is not fighting Israel and Judaism. It is fighting God. It will continue to fight God right to the bitter end as it has done from the beginning.
In the last twenty years or so, some thinking members of the apostate ‘Christian’ Church have become aware that (a) their traditional attitude towards Israel has been wrong and that (b) their understanding of the purpose of God has not taken into consideration the true vocation of Israel, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Many eloquent voices can be heard, outside our own community, saying what We were saying from 1848 to the 1950 s, but perhaps not quite so loudly lately(?). However we thank God and take courage that some right ideas are being ventilated about these two matters. This is the reasons why the question “Are we antisemitic” is highly relevant now, today, at this moment.
Our appeal is that we shall give urgent, prayerful and careful attention to the position of the Jew who recognises Yeshua as HaMassaich.
It is easy to quote statements from the epistles out of context, without regard to whether they were addressed to Jews or Gentiles and, perhaps, in some cases we have even not noticed what even Yaeshua HaMassaich said.
For example, in Matthew 19:16; Mark 10:17; Luke 10:25; 18:18 we have the question raised about how eternal life may be gained. In each case the answer given to those Jews was keep Torah. this reply was based on Ezekiel 18 : 59, 14-17, 19-23. we may have read those verses as “he shall live” in “Torah blessings”, but the question asked of yeshua concerned “eternal” life. it may be that the questioner used ‘eternal’ as the quality not the quantity of life. but it may be noted that even at that late stage Torah was still commended as the way of living; there was no suggestion that the questioners should come back later for revised instructions in the light of further developments.
References to ‘a’ or ‘the’ new’ covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34 (cp. Matthew 26:28 where ‘new’ disappears in some modern versions because some manuscripts omit it and II Corinthians 3:6) may easily give the idea of a ‘new’ or ‘different’ covenant but certainly Jeremiah 31:33 emphasises that this ‘new’ covenant is Torah ‘renewed’, written “in their hearts” rather than on tablets of stone. The Gospels surely refer to the extension of the covenant to include the Gentiles but it is not a ‘new’ or ‘different’ covenant.
There are indeed some Pauline phrases which the apostate ‘Christian’ missionary is quick to use to uphold his contention that Torah is abolished. It is not in the scope of this article to review all these, but rather to ask for a prayerful, careful consideration of every single phrase in the light of the total revelation concerning Torah which God gave through Moses and its purpose and power yesterday, today and tomorrow. We must not just grasp at one comment made in one context and use it in isolation in another context. That is often the way of the apostate “Christian” missionary. We seek the Truth of God.
Torah does not of itself have the power to grant everlasting life. respecting and obeying God’s commandments is man’s duty and provides blessings for this present life. But that does not carry a person from mortality to immortality. However, if those who respect and obey, recognise that Torah is more than a code of behaviour, then their knowledge and faith will lead them to messiah. Torah teaches the need for obedience; the penalty for sin; the price of forgiveness.
Observance of Torah brings abundant blessing in this life by teaching the ‘eternal’ qualities of life; but the permanent effects of sin and death cannot be overcome, unless the observer has learned that Torah teaches about Messiah, in whom God promises freedom from sin and death in everlasting life. Animal sacrifices brought forgiveness but the sacrifice of Messiah, the perfect representative, brought more than the promise of forgiveness; it brought resurrection from the dead and immortality.
The Jew is blessed in this life if he observes Torah; living by Torah protects him from the evils committed by Gentiles with their ‘built-in’ punishment. The Jew is also blessed because he is the Covenant Servant who bears witness to his Creator. As such his observance of Torah is his witness to the Gentiles concerning the existence and purpose of God. This work began at the Exodus and will still continue into the Messianic Age. But both those processes end eventually and inevitably in death.
The Jew and the Gentile, both together, who recognise the purpose of God in Messiah by faith, share in the greater, on-going, purpose of God, to fill the earth with His Knowledge and Glory and to go on eternally, together in His service.
It is to this end that
“Torah is perfect (for) converting the soul, making wise the sample, enlightening the eyes, rejoicing the heart, (being) clean, pure, righteous altogether, more desirable than fine gold, sweeter than honey, and in the keeping of which there is great reward” Psalm 19:7-11.
The secret of enjoying all those blessings is in understanding that the main purpose of Torah is the revelation of Messiah and the preparation of a people to serve their God in His Way.
Earlier we defined Judaism as the religion of the Jews. That was inadequate. It is a great conglomerate of Torah, Tanach (The Written Law), plus the ‘Oral Law’ said to have been given later, as explanations which God gave Moses when problems arose about the interpretation and application of Torah (Numbers 15:32, 36; 27:1-11 etc.). Where this Oral Law is directly from God through Moses and the prophets, its authority is dependable but certainly after “the sun went down over the prophets” and God ceased to speak directly to men, its statements are not always in a line with previous Divine revelation (which is set as the means of judging a prophet’s credentials in Deuteronomy 13:1-3).
In discussion, it was ( and still is) customary to quote as many different opinions from the great commentators as possible. Matthew 7: 28, 29 indicate that Yeshua “spoke with authority” which came direct from God and this astonished the people. Whatever truth (or otherwise) may be in Talmud etc., it must always be brought for verification to Torah. Most of the great sages (or those whose works have been preserved) rejected the identification of Jesus of Nazareth with Messiah. This has affected the thinking of most Jews since, whether they are observant or secular. To them it is a fact beyond discussion.
In addition, they have rightly rejected the paganism of apostate ‘Christianity’ since this has been the only kind they have met — a ‘Christian-paganism’ which has been antisemitic in the extreme.
Let us ask two questions. How were Torah-observant Jews expected to recognise Yeshua as HaMassiach when he appeared amongst them, as thousands who were zealous for Torah did, as Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:7; 12:24; 19:20; 21:20 testify. In the light of that evidence, how should we advise a Jew who recognises Yeshua as HaMassiach to relate to Torah today?
These are not theoretical questions; they are vitally practical. One of the main reasons the Jew cannot accept Jesus of Nazareth as his Messiah is that he thinks that he must accept the whole package of an abolished Torah, a pagan Trinity, a Messiah who is the Second person in the Trinity, total absorption into the ‘Christian’ Church which has tortured and massacred countless millions of his fellow Jews for fifteen hundred years.
If that ‘package’ is the Gospel (as the apostate ‘Christian’ missionary says it is) then we can have nothing of any value to say to the Jew. he will not wish to hear our beliefs or understand our faith. We cannot blame him for that.
Since 1848, we have left the apostate ‘Christian’ Church. We have traced similar groups under the same name (Brethren in Christ) back to the 1500s. Along with the Jews, we were also persecuted to destroy our witness, by the apostate ‘Christian’ Church.
When thousands of Jews recognised Yeshua as HaMassaich, nearly two thousand years ago, they were considered to be a ‘sect of the Jews’. In truth, they were not a sect, but were those who having heard Moses read every Shabbat in the synagogue were ready and waiting for the one who should come.
This was not an idle dream; it was based on the sound understanding of the testimony of God in Torah and Tanach. It was a seed planted in the mind of Eve when (Genesis 3:15) she heard God tell the serpent that “her” seed would first be bruised in the heel by the seed of the serpent (i.e. Eve’s seed would be brought down) but afterwards “her” seed would deal a death blow (in the head) to the serpent’s seed. This strange reference to “the seed of the woman” (ignoring Adam and indicating the Divine initiative in bringing one into the world who would conquer the sin and death) runs as a golden thread throughout the Scripture.
The miraculous salvation for Noah and his family to start a new world; the miraculous begettal of Isaac when Abraham and Sarah were well beyond the age of having a son; the miraculous redemption of Israel from Egypt, the land of sin and death; the miraculous revelation of Torah to Israel at Sinai; the miraculous education of Israel for forty years in the Wilderness; their miraculous establishment as the Witness People throughout the Middle East; their miraculous survival for over twenty five centuries under exile, occupation by the world’s greatest powers, their dispersion and then the Holocaust in which half their world population died under Hitler; their miraculous re-establishment as the State of Israel in 1948 in the face of the ignominious behaviour of their ‘Protectors’ — Great Britain — under the League of nations Mandate; their miraculous survival against Arab vindictive violence in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973; the miraculous recording of over two thousand years of their history before any of the events happened.
How many more miracles have to happen before the world (And Even Many Jews themselves) recognises that God has a purpose With The Jews and that in spite of all the world’s opposition it cannot fail.
There are many more miracles associated with this purpose of God. Why should Jew or Gentile choose to accept all those mentioned and then omit the miracle of the birth of Messiah; the miracle of his totally acceptable sacrifice for the sins of all who will identify themselves with him; the miracle of his resurrection to immortality; the mirade of his return; the miracle of the resurrection of the dead; the miracle of the imminent danger of Israel’s final destruction and their rescue from their enemies by their Messiah; the miracle of Israel’s recognition of him they rejected; the miracle of the exaltation of faithful Israel to be the nucleus of the Kingdom of God on earth (the Messianic Age long promised by God through His prophets); the miracle of Jews and Gentiles united in the work of God of cleansing this polluted planet of evil thoughts and actions; and there are many more.
These promises of God are the foundation of our lives; they are the motivation of our actions; they are the liveliness of our faith; they are the strength of our hope.
It is our joy to share them with others — to do less would be selfish; we are to love our neighbour as ourselves; that love requires us to seek the eternal welfare of others; to show the spirit enjoined by God in Torah and Tanach of concern living in the shadow of death and depressed by the state of the world.
It is not our purpose to ‘convert’ others to our way of thinking. Though God commands all men, everywhere, to repent, even He does not ‘force’ men against their own wills.
But above all, we seek to honour our God who has graciously revealed Himself for our salvation from ignorance and superstition, from sin and death.
It is the New Testament which proclaims:
“the holy scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of god may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works”.
Such was the place of Torah and Tanach in the teaching of the Gospel. We must observe this ourselves and always present it with the right emphasis to anyone with whom we speak, especially an observant Jew; he would appreciate the words of Psalm 119:33-40; 97-112; and especially verse 144:
“The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting; give me understanding and I shall live”.
Glossary of Hebrew Terms Used Above:
Torah = Commonly called “The Law of Moses” given by God at Sinai, Genesis to Deuteronomy
Tanach = Mnemonic for the three parts of the Hebrew Bible: Torah + Naveim (the Prophets) + Ketubah (the Writings).
Yeshua HaMessaich = Jesus the Christ
Baruch = Blessed
HaShem = ‘The Name’, an acceptable synonym (to Jews) for YHWH, the ineffable Name.
Fellowship with the Maker and Brethren